Follow FEMA:

Blog Articles By Category

Community Emergency Response Teams and the work they do across the country to prepare citizens and respond to emergencies in their communities have been a focal point for us here at the start of 2015. So far, we’ve profiled what these teams do and how you can connect with them via social media. Now I want to share a few examples of the unique ways these programs practice emergency preparedness in their neighborhoods.The Harris County Citizen Corps uses the model of a quintessential Texas event – a rodeo – to sharpen the skills of their Community Emergency Response Team. The...

There are a lot of opinions floating around Washington these days about what’s at stake in the battle over funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From my perspective as Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), I can say with certainty that the current standoff has a real impact on our ability to ensure that a wide range of emergency personnel across the country have the resources they need to do their jobs and keep our communities safer and more secure.One of my toughest days on the job at FEMA was October 1st, 2013 – the first day of the...

February 2, 2015 was a monumental day for me and four of my fellow FEMA Corps members. I never had a chance to meet President Obama, let alone shake his hand. Therefore, I was especially honored to be invited to the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Proposal event held at DHS Headquarters in Washington, DC. When the President expressed his gratitude for our service-based organization proclaiming, “[I’m] proud of you, FEMA Corps,” my Forrest Gump moment was realized.Not only did he thank me for my service to the country, but also he made a point to greet and speak with all...

(Editor's note: This post originally appeared on the White House blog.)When Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, the storm sent water cascading into the South Ferry subway station, pouring into the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, inundating neighborhoods from Staten Island to Queens. At Battery Park in lower Manhattan, water reached more than 9 feet above the average high-tide line.One factor fueling the surge -- New York Harbor, where waters have risen about a foot since 1900. We know that rising sea levels, higher average temperatures, higher ocean temperatures, and other effects of climate...

When it comes to issues that matter, Washington never has all of the answers. Effective emergency management is no exception. We say this a lot at FEMA, but it's true: we're just one part of the nation's emergency management team. Elected officials, non-profit groups, the private sector, tribal nations, and survivors themselves from across America- working together - are the ingredients that make up a successful national effort.That's why our National Advisory Council is so important. Through this group, experts from across the nation help us guide our plans and strategies by...

I’m Eilis and I work in FEMA’s Region 1 office in Boston. Right now, wind is whipping snow around my Charlestown apartment, and the typically busy intersection right outside my door is completely deserted - not a car in sight! I’m in the midst of what Twitter has dubbed #snowmageddon2015. Although the city of Boston is almost completely shut down (no running subway and a driving ban in place) I’m happily working away inside, safe and warm and fully in touch with the rest of my coworkers. As you can imagine, we don’t have snow days at FEMA - on the contrary, we...

The worst of the #Blizzardof2015 is about to hit the Northeast. Throughout the day, we’ve remained in close contact with state, local and tribal officials to make sure there are no unmet needs. And as we continue to track and monitor this storm, we also want to make sure you have all the information you need to stay safe during the storm. We have a full list of tips on Ready.gov, but here are three that deserve your attention right now. Check on your neighbors. Believe it or not, when it comes to severe events YOU are very often the first responder. So if it...

CAPTION: NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured the center of the developing Nor'easter located off North Carolina's Outer Banks on Jan. 26 in the image from 16:30 UTC (12:30 p.m. EST).
There are quite a few stories that caught our attention this week. The #blizzardof2015 is forecast to bring feet of snow to areas that aren’t used to getting that much of the white stuff at once.Our Social Hub is updated to highlight our federal, state, and local partners in the Northeast, including our Region I and Region II accounts. The Hub is a way to follow updates from trusted sources; you don't...

CAPTION: Community Emergency Response Team members completing their fire extinguisher training. Photo Credit: Ready Houston
In case you missed it (or #ICYMI for social media nerds like yours truly), we’ve been highlighting the great work of Community Emergency Response Teams across our social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and of course, here on our blog.In my post last week, I highlighted these teams as a great way to get involved within your community this year. The work of each Community Emergency Response Team is as diverse as the thousands of communities across the...

I know that understanding data can sometimes be daunting, especially if you’re looking at a spreadsheet with rows, upon rows, upon rows of data.To make our data easier to understand, a small project team and I have been working on an innovative data visualization tool designed to help you better understand how we support communities and help visualize it in a way that tells a story. Watch this quick video to learn more about it: View in FEMA Multimedia LibraryHere’s a link to our data visualization tool.Our project team is really excited about bringing the visualization from...

FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

We encourage you to leave comments after each blog post and please be sure to review our disclaimer and policies or contact us with any questions.

If you have a comment that you do not wish to share through this blog, please contact us at FEMA-New-Media@dhs.gov.

The disaster reporter feature in the FEMA App (available on Android & Apple) allows you to take GPS photos in a disaster area and upload them to us.

Text WINTER to 43362 (4FEMA) to receive winter safety tips directly to your cell phone (standard message and data rates apply). See the full list of safety tips you can signup for.